In all, AIG paid out $33 million in bonuses - designed to keep talent at the company - to 52 executives who didn't even work there anymore, he said.

"Something is deeply wrong with this outcome," Cuomo said.

The bombshell came as Congress warned AIG swells to return the bonuses - or have them yanked away in taxes.

"To those of you getting these bonuses: Be forewarned, you will not be getting to keep them," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "They should voluntarily return them. If they don't, we plan to tax virtually all of it."

In a letter to Congress, Cuomo revealed shocking new details of the bonuses that AIG - which is 80% taxpayer-owned - gave executives in the same risk-taking division that helped cause its collapse:

- Seventy-three of about 400 executives got more than $1 million

- The top 10 took home a combined $42million

- The biggest was $6.4 million

Most infuriating was news that 11 of those AIG executives whose "retention" bonuses topped $1 million no longer worked there when their checks arrived this week.

Riffing on a remark by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that AIG execs should commit ritual suicide, Israel quipped: "Somebody said there's two inevitabilities in life: death and taxes. A member of the Senate actually proposed death for people who took the bonuses. We choose the latter."

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) had a blunter solution. "I think the time has come to exercise our ownership rights - we own most of the company - and say, 'No, I'm not paying you the bonus.'"

Frank said he was skeptical of Liddy's fear of losing talent, noting lots of financial pros are looking for work.

Liddy, AIG's CEO for less than a year, is to appear before a House subcommittee for what is sure to be an epic, vicious and bipartisan battering.

There are 50 members on the subcommittee and - barring death - every one will show up to take a televised swing at Liddy. He has said he must pay the bonuses or be sued.

After President Obama declared himself outraged at the bonuses on Monday, Republicans - and some Democrats - questioned why he and his team didn't stop the bonuses long ago. A White House source said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner learned of the bonuses March 10. The next evening, he called Liddy to demand that they be renegotiated.

Finally, on Thursday, Geithner told Obama's aides, who informed the President in the evening, the source said.

"It looks like a lot of incompetence," said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). "I think Secretary Geithner does not have his hands around the details of this."